My wife and I purchased a small cape that sat on a beautiful, but overgrown, lot in Old Lyme, CT… complete with the quintessential field stone wall in front. We’re young and were four months pregant at the time. So the larger “umbrella” goal was to renovate and build a family home that we could raise children in and live comfortably. Under that umbrella, our goals were to build something consistent with classic new england architecture, not just in concept, but in the details as well.
The resulting scope of the project was to demo the detached garage, extend the existing 1,400 s.f. cape to the left for a new living room, which made space for a master bath and closet above; extend right to open up the center of the house, create an office for work, add a first floor laundry room, storage, and a downstairs bedroom suite for family & guests, and build an attached garage; and lastly, to expand to the rear for a large country kitchen to enterain guest, have family dinners, etc; and push the existing dining area of the old house into it’s own bump out for formal holiday gatherings.
Then we had a baby.
We lived in the house while we framed all the additions, but once it came time to break through, my wife and daughter moved to MA while I stayed in CT to finish the project.
That was probably the toughest part… so we worked twice as hard and completed the whole renovation in 6.5 months.
We stripped the entire original house right down to the framing and came back with all new electrical, plumbing, mechanicals, and all the proper finishing touches to end up with a classic, simple, yet stylish and elegant, cape style home suited for a growing family while complimenting the surrounding neighborhood.
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Showing the original home with new foundation work (our "before" shot).
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Finished home showing completed additions, new siding, windows, trim, roof, chimney. Original home still in the center of it all, just with a new facelift!
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Rear photo of house showing country kitchen portion, new dining room bump out, master bed deck above, garage (since painted). Grass is currently lush and full, fyi.
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Sample interior shot of front foyer. Center of house shifted, but stair location stayed the same. Door shifted to a new hallway and much grander entrance.
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Sample interior shot of kitchen. Matching cabinets w/ glass doors on opposite wall (not shown), beadboard, dark walnut butcher block island with seating for three. Table beyond for dining with windows on three sides.
